Sheet-delivery apparatus for printing and folding machinery.



PATENTED SEPT. 15, 1903.

. G. T. GUNDALL. SHEET DELIVERY APPARATUS FOR PRINTING AND FOLDINGMACHINERY.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 22'. 1903.

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` SHEET DELIVERY APPARATUS. AND FOLDING MACHINERY.

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PATENT-BD SEPT. 15, 1903.

o. T; GUNDALI.. sEEET DELIVERY APPARATUS PoRV PRINTING AND POLDINGMACHINERY.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 22. `1903.

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i I UNITED STATES atented September 15,` 1905);.

APATENT OFFICE.

CONSTANT T. .CUNDALL OF ASHAWAY, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO C. B.`

COTTRELLA dt SONS COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION or NEwJERSEY.

SHIET-DELIVERY APPARATUS FOR PRINTING AND FOLDING MACHINERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 738,778, datedSeptember 15, 1903.

Application sied May 22.1903.

` .To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, CONSTANT T. OUNDALL, a citizen of the'Uiiited States,and a resident of Ashaway, in the county of Washington 5y and State ofRhode Island, have invented a s new and useful ImprovementinSheet-Delivery Apparatus ,forl Printing and Folding Machinery, of whichi the following is a specification. I p 1o The principal object of thisinvention is to facilitate the transfer of-` folded sheets .from afolding mechanism, which may be an ad# junct to a printingm`achine, to acarrier, by which the sheets are delivered in piles or fin a train; andto this end the improvement con! i sists in part of a sheet-dropper ofthe novel construction 'hereinafter described and incertain combinationshereinafter described and claimed, in which the said dropper con- Theinvention is illustrated in the accom- I panying drawings, in which- A,

Figure 1 represents-a side elevation of a' signature-delivery apparatusembodying my z5 invention in aform -Which comprises a pock- `etedcarrier in which the signatures are collected from the dropper-fordelivery in piles; Fig. 2, an elevation viewed'froni the left of Fig. l;Fig. 3, a side view of the mechanism, 3o partly shown in Fig. 1, formoving the car-- rier; Figs. 4 and 4*, front views of some of thedetails imperfectly shown in Fig. 3; Fig.

5, a vertical section parallel with Fig. 1; Fig.

6, a transverse vertical section of the dropper and the carrier; Fig. 7,a transverse section of some of the dropper-operating mechanism; Fig. 8,a-planof the dropper; Fig,

asectional view corresponding with parts of Fig. 5, but illustrating acarrier on which the 4o`sheets are collected from the dropper in atrain. i

` Referring first to Figs. 1, 2, and 5, the fold'- ing mechanism, whichis therein 4represented and which serves as well as any other for the45, illustration of my invention ,consists of a folding-cylinder 10,furnished with two sets of gripping-jaws 11 and a tuking-cylinder 12,`furnished with a tucking-blade 13, coperating alternately with oneandthe other set Serial No. 158,313. (No model.)

of gripping-jaws to fold sheets presented `to said cylinders in anysuitable manner. The

shafts 45 46 of said cylinders run in fixed bearings on the side framing9 and are geared together by gears 47 48, so that the tuckingpieces 1515, carried by one of a series of Vpairs of shafts `19, which areirmly-secured in the chains 14 and the ends of which are furnished, asshown in Fig. 6, with rollers 20, running in the horizontal guides 18..The wheels 16, which are sprocketwheels engaging with the chains 14,are carried by the shaft 21, which is the driving-shaft of the carrierand which runs in fixed bearings in or on the side framing 9. The wheels17, which are merely supporting-wheels, run loosely on xed studs 22 inthe horizontal frames 23, of which the guides 18 form part and which aresupported in part by the transverse framing .24 and in part by standards25, erected on the bed-plate 26.

The dropper 27 2S,which constitutes the principal feature of the presentinvention and which is for receiving the foldedsheets or signatures fromthe folding-cylinder and depositing them in the carrier-pockets 15, is

shown in Figs. 1, 5, 6, and 8l arranged some two similar members 27,each consisting of a longitudinal projection of cruciform oru wingedtransverse section from one'end of one of two horizontal shafts 28,whichare arranged parallel with each other and with the length of thepocketed carrier and transversely to the axes of the cylinders 10 12 inbearings 29j in the transverse framing. The space between said members27 and the relative arrangement of said shafts 28 and the pocketedcarrier and cylinders is such that two opposite margins of a foldedsheet or signature 3l may, as shown in Fig. 6,be supported upon two ofthe wings 32,-that is to say, upon one wing 32 of each member-Which areprescnted horizontally with the corresponding edges of the sheet orsignature betwee'n two others of said wings, which are at the same timepresented upward. The dropper-shafts 28 are geared together in suchmanner, as will be hereinafter described, that they rotate together inopposite directions, each in such diing the said members downward andoutward removes the support from the sheet, which then drops into one ofthe pockets 15, which is at the time stationary under the dropper. Toprovide for the transfer of the sheets or signatures from thefolding-cylinder 10 to the dropper, there is represented a carrierconsisting of two sels of tapes 33 34. (See Fig. 5.,) The tapes 33 runin'grooves in the cylinder and around wheels 35, running loosely on ashaft 36 and being kept at proper tension by idler-wheels 37 in swingingarms 38. The tapes 34 run on wheels 39 40 4l, the wheels 39 being faston a shaft 42, running in bearings in theside framing 9, the wheels 40being loose on a fixed shaft 43 and the wheels 41, which aretightening-Wheels, being hung in swinging arms 44. The tapes 33 aredriven by the cylinder l0 and those 34 through the gearing of theirshaft 42 by a gear 46* with the gear 48 on the cylinder 10.

The relative movements of the several parts ofthe machine illustrated byFigs. l'to 8, inclusive are as follows: The tucking and folding"cylinders 12 10 have continuous rotary motion, and the carrier 33 34 hasa continuous movement.l The intermittent rotary movements of the dropperare so timed that they take place quickly once for every foldingoperation. The movement ofthe pocketed carrier takes place only afterevery such number of sheets or signatures 31 as are desired in avpilehave .been deposited in a pocket 15, which has been stationary under thedropper.

' The means for imparting these movements to the several parts, whichall derive their movements from the shaft 46 of the foldingcylinder 10,will now be described.

For driving the dropper there is provided onone end of said shaft 46 abevel-gear 49. This bevel-gear` gears with a bevel-gear 50 on av shaft51, Figs. 1 and 2, which runs in bearings in brackets 5,2 on the outsideof the framing 9 and which carries another bevel-gear 53, which gearswith a bevel-gear 54 lon a shaft 55, Figs. 1, 2, 5, 8, and 8i", which isar ranged crosswise of the pocketed carrier and of the dropper-shafts 28in bearings in brackets 56 on the cross-framing 24. The said shaft 55carries two ruiter-gears 57, which gearwith two miter-gears 57* on shortshafts 58, arranged parallel with the dropper-shafts 27 in bearings inthe cross-framing 24. The said shafts 58, which receive a constantrotary motion at the rate of one revolution for every half-revolution ofthe folding-cylinderl 10 and every delivery of a folded sheet, are eachfurnished with a disk 58, (see Fig. 7,) which carries an eccentric-pin59, which engages with radial slots 60 in disks 61 on the dropper-shafts28, the said slots in each disk corresponding in number with the wingsof the droppers, so that a quarter-revolution of the dropper-shafts andone operation of the dropper is produced by each revolution of theshafts 58.

The means represented in Figs. 1, 3, 4, 4*, 5 for giving motion to thepocketed carrier are such as are now well known, having been describedin United States Letters Patent No. 604,004, dated May 10, 1898, andtherefore need here only to be briefly described. They derive theirmovementsfrom a cam 62, Figs. 1 and 3, on a shaft 64, which is arrangedparallel with the folding and tucking cylinders in bearings in the sideframes l9 and which is geared with the folding-cylinder 10to make tworevolutions for every one of the said cyl-- inder by means of aspur-gear on the shaft of said cylinder, a spur-gear 66 on said shaft64, and an intermediate spurl-gear 67, running onafixed stud 68,carriedby the side framing 9. This cam 62 acts at the proper time against aroller 69 on a lever 70, which works on a fixed fulcrum 71 in a stand71*, the upper end of said lever having connected with it a toothed rack72,which engages with and turns a pinion 73, which is loose on thedriving-shaft 2l of the carrier, but which is engaged with said shaft bymeans of a pawl 74 and ratchet-wheel 75, (see Fig. 4*,) thesaid-ratchet-wheel being fast on the shaft and said pawl being carriedby an arm 75*,attached to the said pinion. This engagement only takesplace when turning in the direction of the arrow shown near it in Figs.1 and 3, this direction being the the lever is held out of the operativerangeV of the continuously-rotating cam 62 by means of a detent 76,which is pivoted by a pivot 76* to the stand 7l* and which is engaged bya stud 77 on the said lever; but at the `proper time for moving thecarrier the said detent is lifted from the stud, and Vthe lever .isbrought within the operative rangeof the 4cam by means of a spring 78,which always IIO presses it toward the cam.

stand 7l* and which acts against a toe 8l,

`attached to the detent. `The operation of i this trip-lever 79 isproduced and controlled by intermeshing gears 82,83 and tappets S4 85,thereto attached. The gear 82, which is carried by the cam-shaft 64,has-a less number of teeth than `that 83, which turns on a fixed stud 86on the stand 7l* and is driven by that 82.` The tappet 8l on the gear 82is fixed upon said gear; but the tappets 85 on the gear 83 are attachedto slide radially on said gear under the control of springs which tendto press them outward. Once during a y given number of revolutions ofthe two gears and at a time when the inner end of one of the slidingtappets 85 is opposite the lower end of the trip-lever 79 the tappet4 84comes against the outer end of said sliding tappet and presses the saidtappet inward against the trip-lev`er,`.which then presses upward thetoe 8l of the detent,`and so raises the latter from the stud 79 of thelever 70 and allows `the said lever to be brought by the spring 78within range of the cam 62, which then during a portion of its nextrevolutionproduces the necessary movement of said lever and its rack 72to produce the operation of the car- `rier. .While the detent isinoperative it is supported by afixed stop 92 on the side of the stand7l*, as shown in Fig. et.A The number of sheets or signatures depositedin a pile in the pockets between the movements of the carrier willdepend Aon the relative numbers of teeth in the gears 82 83 and thenumberof tappets on said gears. If, for example, there are fortyfseventeeth -in gear 82 and forty? eight teeth ingear 83 and there are twotappets on the gear 83 and one on that 82, the

carrier will be moved once for every twentyfour sheets or signaturesdeposited.

In the modification of my invention illustratedin Fig. 8* thecontinuously-moving carrier, on which the sheets or signatures aredeposited by the dropper, consists of an endless apron or series oftapes 87, carried by wheels or rollers 88 89, carried by shafts 90 91,to which continuous rotary motion may be given by any suitable means.The sheets or signatures deposited on the so-moving carrier lie thereonin a train in which each sheet or signature 31 partlyoverlaps itspredecessor, as

shown in said figure.

" Though I` consider it preferable thatthe dropper members 28should becruciform or four-winged, as represented,l do not consider myinventionlimited to that form, as they might possibly have only three or morethan four wings.

What I claim as `my 'invention isl. A sheet-dropper comprising twoparallel rotary shafts having uponthem longitudinal wings for thesupport of sheets. 2."Afsheet-dropper comprising two rotary The naingofthe detent is eectedat the proper timethrough wing of the other and onewing of each pre-` sented upward.

p 4:. `A sheet-dropper consisting of two rotary members of wingedtransverse section having their axes parallel with each other and gearedtogether to rotate in such opposite directions that the wings of eachwhich are presented toward the wings of the other have downwardmovements, and means for giving said members an intermittent rotarymotion during the intermissions of which a wing of each is presentedoppositea wing of the other.

5. The combination of a sheet-dropper consisting of twointermittently-rotating members of winged transverse section havingtheir axes parallel with each other, and a carrier running parallel withsaid axes for depositing sheets on the wings of said members during theintermissions of their rotation.

6. The combination of a sheet-dropper con` sisting of twointermittently-rotating members of winged transverse section havingtheir axes parallel with each other, anda carrier arranged below saiddropper for the reception and delivery of sheets deposited thereon bythe rotary movements of saidmembers.

7. The combination of a sheet-dropper consisting of twointermittently-rotating mem; bers of Winged transverse sectionhavingtheir axes parallel' with each other, and "a carrier arranged below saiddropper and running parallel with said axes for the reception and dellivery of sheets deposited thereon by the rotary movements of saidmembers.

8. The combination of a sheet-folding device, a carrier for thereception and delivery of the sheets folded by said device, a dropperconsisting of two rotary members arranged above said carrier with theiraxes parallel with the direction of the movement of said carrier, andmeans for giving said members intermittent rotary motion for thereception of folded sheets from said folding device and the deposit ofthe so-received 'sheets upon said carrier. i Y

9. The combination of a sheet-folding' device, a dropper consisting oftwo rotary members arranged parallel with each other, a carrier betweenthe said device and dropper run# ning parallel with the axes of thedropper members for depositing folded sheets on the dropper, and acarrier below the dropper for the reception of sheets from the dropper.`

10. The combination of asheet-folding del vice, a dropper consisting oftwo rotary members arranged parallel with each other, a"car`- rierbetween the said device and dropper run` ning parallel with the axes ofthe dropper" members for depositing folded sheets on the IOO IIO

dropper, and a carrier below the dropper running parallel with said axesfor the reception of sheets from the dropper.

ranged below said dropper to run in a diretion parallel with said axesfor the reception of sheets deposited by said dropper and means formoving said carrier during an intermission of the movements of thedropper after a certain predetermined number of such deposits.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of t'Wo Witnesses, this 11th day of May, `A. D. 1903.

Y CONSTANT T. oUNDALL.

Witnesses:

A. R. STILLMAN, ALLEN C. WHITFORD.

